Animated doll



Jul 7, 1925. 1,54,

W. F. WATKINS ANIMATED DOLL Filed Dec. 26, 1922 Patented July 7, 1925.

UNITED STATES WILLIAM F. WATKINS, OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON.

ANIMATED DOLL.

Application filed December as, 1922. Serial No. 003,923.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM F. WATKINS,

'a citizen of the United States, residing at and rocked from side to side, thus enabling a child to lay the doll down and by rocking it to cause it to first close its eyes and appear to go to sleep and then in response to more rocking movement to open its eyes and appear'to awaken during which operations the eye lids will be caused to twinkle or blink. 7

Further objects are to provide a doll of this nature in which the mechanical parts are strong and substantial in construction, not expensive to manufacture, relatively easy to install in doll heads of-standard construction and capable of withstanding rough usage without getting out of order.

Other and more specific objects will be apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawm s.

in the drawings Figure 1 is a view in vertical midsection of a dolls head showing this invention installed therein and showing the eyes closed.

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the eyes open. I

Fig. 3 is a detached view partly in cross section and partly in plan of the eyeballs and eyelids and parts connected therewith.

Fig. 4c is a detached plan view of certain cam mechanism and supporting devices embodied in the invention.

Fig. 5 is a development of the cam showing the same as it might appear if spread out onto a flat plane.

Like reference numerals designate like parts throughout the several views.

The drawings show eye mechanlsm embodying two eyeballs 7 rigidly and adjustably secured as by set screws 8, on a transversely arranged rod or support 9 The rod 9 is permanently anchored within a dolls head 10 by an anchor plate 11 that is cevmented or otherwise fixedly secured to the I forehead portion of the head 10 and that 1s made fast at its lower end to the medial portion of the rod 9.

.Pivotally mounted on the rod 9 and arranged to I fit over the eyeballs 7 are two movable lid members 12 of thin material that are arranged to be moved over the eyeball to give the eyes the appearance of openmg and closing. The lid members 12 are preit'erably connected with each other by a medial portion 13 that projects rearwardly from the rod .9 and the portion 13 is connected with a weight arm 14 upon the outer end of which is a weight 15. The arm 14 is arranged to rest upon the top edge of a cylindrical cam member 16 that is mounted on a ratchetwheel 17. The ratchet wheel 17 is rotatably mounted by a pivot 18 on a plate or support 19. The plate 19 is provided at its forward end with a portion 20 of reduced size that 1s arranged to fit within the nose recess in the head 10- and such plate 19 is provided at its rear end with two spaced apart curved spring like members 21 that are capable of being bent or formed so that they will fit snugly within the back of the head 10 and exert a pressure that tends to prevent the plate 19 from becoming loose within the head. The forward end 20 of the plate 19 is'preferably set either in plaster of Paris was set upon and embedded into a piece of cork that fits within the nose recess as indi-' cated at 22 and the rear ends of the spring like members 21 may be cemented to the rear wall of the hea A pawl 23 is fulcrumed onthe plate 19 at the front side of theratchet wheel 17 and is lever. arm 25. A pawl 29 is fulcrumed by a pivot 30 on the lever arm 25 and is arranged to be normally .held in engagement with the ratchet wheel 17, when the doll is on its back, by an integral weight 31.

The edge of the cam member 16 on which the weight arm 14 rests is provided with a plurality of abrupt shoulders 32 that the surfaces ap roaching the abru t shoulder 33' on both s1 es are preferably at and without inclination for a short distance, whereby the eyes will remain entirely closed or wide open during a portion of the time that the cam member 16 is being rotated. If desired spring or elastic means may be used instead of the weight 15 for holding the arm 14 in I engagement with the cam 16.

In operation when the doll in which this mechanism is installed is in an upright position the weight arm 14.will rest upon the cam 16 and no movement of the lid members will occur regardless of whether said lid members are in the wide open, partially closed or full closed position. If the doll is laid on its acls or is tilted backwardly into any position approaching the horizontal and is then rocked from side to side the lever arm 25 with the weight 28 on the end thereof will swing like a pendulum and will cause the ratchet 29 to rotate the ratchet wheel 17 in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 4 thus causing the weight arm 14 to ride over the cam 16 and be moved into different positions by said cam to open and close the eyelids 12.

It will be obvious that during the course of travel of the weighted arm 14 over the cam 16 the arm will drop the distance of the notch 32 and when doing so the arm will be slightly lowered thereby causing the eyelids to twinkle or blink.

If, when the eyelids are in the open position as shown in Fig. 2 the doll is tilted rearwardly or laid on its back and rocked from side to side the cam will be rotated slowly and will move the weight arm 14 outwardly until it reaches the full closed position shown in Fig. 1. If, after the eyelids are in the fully closed position, the rocking movement of the doll is continued then the weight arm 14 will drop off of the abrupt shoulder 33 and the eyelids will be moved into the fully opened position. During the time the eyelids are closing they will be caused to quiver and have the appearance of blinking each time the weight arm 14 drops off of one of the smaller shoulders 32. The blinking effect may be varied by varying the number and height of the shoulders 32 or may entirely be done away with by dispensing with such shoulders entirely.

The pawl 23 at the front side of the ratchet wheel 17 prevents rotation of such wheel except in the direction indicated by the arrow.

The closing of the eyelids will be gradual and is intended to imitate the actions of a sleepy child so that it will be suggestive of sleep to the child that is playing with the doll.

The device ma be quickly and easily installed in an ordinary doll head, the spring members 21 being capable of being bent to fit heads of different size and the weight 28 being rounded as shown so that it will swing freel in even the smallest doll head in which the device can be installed.

The stops 27 serve to limit the swinging movement of the arm 25 and thereby determine the amount that the ratchet wheel 17 and cam 16 will be advanced at each oscillation of such arm 25.

The cam 16 moves continuously in the same'direction and can be varied in shape to correspond to the movement that it is desired to impart to the eyelids.

The device is simple and strong in construction, is capable of withstanding rough use without getting out of order, is not expensive to manufacture, and contributes to the production of eyes that have an unusually life like appearance.

The foregoing description and accompanying drawings clearly disclose what I now consider to be a preferred embodiment of my invention, but it will be understood that changes in the same may be resorted to within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim 1. An animated doll of the class described embodying a hollow head having the usual eye openings, a bar rigidly supported crosswise within said head adjacent said eye openings, eyeballs mounted on said bar in alignment with said eye openings, eyelid members arranged to fit over said eyeballs and to be oscillated to cover and uncover the embodying a hollow head having the usual eye openings, a bar rigidly supported crosswise within said head adjacent said eye openings, eyeballs mounted on said bar in alignment with said eye openings, eyelid members arranged to fit over said eyeballs and to be oscillated to cover and uncover the visible portion of said eyeballs, an arm connected with said eyelid members and projecting rearwardly therefrom, a wei ht on the outer end of said arm, an annu ar cam having an uneven upper edge on which said arm is arranged to rest, means su porting said cam for rotation and means f tr rotating said cam when the doll is inclined rearwardly and rocked from side to side.

3. An animated doll of the class described embodying a doll head having the usual eye openings, a transverse bar rigidly supported within said doll head at a distance from said eye openings, eyeballs fixedly mounted on said bar in alignment with said eye openings, eyelid members mounted for oscillation on said bar and arranged to be moved to cover up and uncover the exposed portions of said eyeballs, a weight arm connected with eyelid members for controllin the movement of the same, a weight on t e outer end of said weight arm, an annular cam member having an irregularly shaped upper edge on which said weight arm is adapted to rest, a ratchet wheel carrying said cam member, a support arranged to be permanently anchored within the doll head, means pivotally supporting said ratchet wheel on said support, and weight operated means for rotating said cam member when the doll is placed in a rearwardly inclined position and oscillated from side to side.

4. An animated doll of the class described embodying a doll head having the usual eye openings, a transverse bar rigidly supported within said head at a distance from said eye openings, eyeballs fixedly mounted on said bar in alignment with said eye openings, eyelid members mounted for oscillation on said bar and arranged to be moved to cover up and uncover the visible portions of said eyeballs, a weight arm connected with eyelid members for controlling the movement of the same, a weight on the outer end of said weight arm, an annular cam member having an irregularly shaped upper edge on which said weight arm is adapted to rest, a ratchet wheel carrying said cam member, a support arranged to be permanently anchored within the doll head, means pivotally supporting said ratchet wheel on said support, a pawl for preventing rotation of said ratchet wheel in one direction, a lever arm pivoted to said support and extending rearwardly therefrom, a weight on the end of said lever arm and a pawl on said lever arm for rotating said ratchet wheel in response to oscillating movement of said lever arm.

The foregoing specification signed at Seattle, Wash., this 27th day of November, 1922.

WILLIAM F. WATKINS. 

